First Day on the Job

First Day on the Job Discuss the factors causing the employee’s dissatisfaction. The employee seems to be loaded up with busy work and work that is not challenging to her. She is looking for work that is thought provoking and to experience new tasks with which she can grow in knowledge about the job. The work now seems to be cyclical, boring, and she feels overworked with mundane tasks. There is no advancing forward toward her ultimate goal of owning her own business.

She’s at a point of quitting and seeking a job elsewhere, where she can absorb new knowledge and gain experience. Identify which of these factors could be addressed with improvements in the way the organization handles development as described in the chapter. Malik needs to understand that, in part, the employee is describing burnout. To correct this problem Malik has an opportunity to discover why this employee is having the symptoms of burnout, and how changes to her job would minimize or reverse the burnout.

Some of the causes for burnout that she described were her workload that was heavy at times. But more then just a heavy load of work, it’s routine and boring to her. It would suit her best if the organization would change her tasks that she does daily and make those tasks challenging in her work. Another symptom of burnout was described as having ‘work that was too little’. This would seem to be her complaint of ‘unmet expectations’, for growing and training on the job. She also needs the experience to reach her ultimate goal, owning her own business.

An ‘action plan’ may help both her and the organization. This would be a plan for her career development, and to help her focus on the training that is needed to accomplish her goal. With the organization’s support, she would have the incentive to continue with her current position, knowing that she is being help by Malik and the organization. There are many choices that she can choose from for development in her selected industry. She could ask Malik if the organization has a mentoring program.

If they do, then she could follow the example of the mentor and have him give her guidance through the different situations that she may encounter with the tasks that she would perform at her job. In an article, there is a quote that says, “A good mentor will likely welcome the opportunity to assist you in achieving your personal vision and professional goals. ” (Lakoski, 2009) This mentoring program would help the struggling employee, by giving her more of what she is asking for, and that is job enrichment.

A protean career direction is another suggestion that Malik could mention. It would involve taking on a more non-traditional career development process. She would need independent freedom from the organization in her training, and would make all of the decisions about it, but would be given the support of the organization by providing the funds needed for formal education or other means of gaining knowledge about her career choice. Discuss what Malik should do tomorrow with regard to his employee.

Malik recalls that someone in the office has seen the potential in his employee. He heard that she was going to be one of the best ‘high potential’ employees, and a great asset to the organization. Following up the next day, after she voiced her complaints; he should meet with her supervisor and discuss the complaints, and find out if this is a normal pattern that she displays on a regular basis. If this is not a routine complaint by her, then the threat of leaving the organization should be a threat to take serious.

Her dissatisfaction with the organization should then be treated as a real threat and because of her being a valued employee, her leaving the organization would be a concern for the managers. If she is a valued employee with potential and has voiced a serious enough threat of leaving the organization, then efforts to correct the situation should be done. Valued employees are also noted in this article, “Southwest Airlines Co. is helping employees chart career paths.

The Dallas airline launched a new talent-management program this year in which managers meet monthly with all nonunion employees to discuss career progress and goals. ” (Needleman, 2009) A follow up discussion with his employee should help Malik understand why she feels the way that she does. This would provide insight as to why this issue has occurred. Malik needs to discuss with her why she is feeling burned out, and how she thinks this situation can be resolved. The discussion may include a question like, what would satisfy her to feel fulfilled with the work that she is doing.

Another point to focus on in the discussion is, all the different ways the organization could help her benefit from training and other employee development programs. What long-term changes should Malik suggest for this organization, if it appears that his employee is not the only one with these complaints? If there seems to be a pattern of complaints being voiced from other employees about feelings of being overworked or work dissatisfaction, then there should be a concerned effort made by the management to correct the issue.

Human resource professionals should inform all management of the need for career development programs for employees. Programs, such as, tuition reimbursement, in house training, mentoring and job enrichment studies would help provide a wide range of solutions for employees who are dissatisfied with their jobs. Discuss the human resource policies and programs that would support development programs within the organization. Job enrichment studies should be performed by human resources to determine how the organization can make changes to different jobs by restructuring their tasks.

Whether it is job rotations or job transfers both of these programs would provide a broader view for the ‘learning’ employee to understand upstream and/or downstream customer’s processes. This type of program would benefit the individual employee, by their understanding of the work involved, and would benefit the organization as a whole. References Lakoski, J. M. (2009, August 14). Perspective: Top 10 tips to maximize your mentoring. CTSciNet Clinical and Translational Science Network. Needleman, S. E. (2009, November 16). Businesses mount efforts to retain valued employees. The Wall Street Journal, sec. Management.